the adverse effects of Ethanol

[strange1]

the adverse effects of Ethanol on RX ?

[fil_auto]

been discussed before, search is your friend

[iaint]

Popping \'ethanol\' into the search doesn\'t come up with a lot that\'s very in depth.  Might be worthwhile people posting up any knowledge or first-hand experiences?

I know mine will give a significantly healthier emissions output with a little ethanol in the tank but I don\'t run it like that regularly.

[fil_auto]

fair enough, I understand there\'s concerns about fuel tank, lines and damage over course of time..... things run cooler, therefore mapping essential.... I also understand one of the top UK rotary tuners has run an rotary on ethanol / e85 for sometime... hopefully they\'ll see this and report in

[HaywardRotary]

It takes the lining off the fuel tank and keeps blocking the fuel filter.

[Prof]

It\'s corrosive - although not as much as methanol to certain metals (aluminium for one) and so can eat fuel tanks, effect injectors, hard lines and so on - but you can get ethanol safe varieties of these.
 
It\'s got a higher octane rating than gasoline, but has a lower energy output per volume so you\'ll need to inject more of it (not quite double) for the same output powers. It would certainly need customer fuel setup and larger injectors and a fully mappable ECU.
 
On the plus side it offers a lot of cooling of the intake / combustion due to it\'s higher specific heat / latent heat so will aid cooling and reduce the requirements for an intercooler.

[HaywardRotary]

Approx 30% more fuel needed than petrol for same power.

[rx7boy]

Are you thinking of just adding it to the standard pump fuel or running in solely on Ethanol ??

If as a you main fuel source,I have done a fair amount of research into this, the best person to speak to hands down is Timmy @ RXmotors he has been using the stuff for a while now and also runs both his drag cars on alternative fuels.

As mentioned above it can cause blockages in the fuel filter as it essentially strips clean your tank. I would suggest using a new plastic based tank unless you can clean yours first.

Injectors are easily sourced many are ethanol compatible you would need to run large secondary injectors (1680/2000cc) due to increased amount of fuel needed.

If you going through the hassle of changing the tank then its worth running new fuel lines, I would suggest MSA teflon ones, best place I have found is torques uk on ebay.

And lastly ECU and you would need someone who knows how to map ethanol, its a different ball game, again timmy sounds like he is the best man for the job. Apexi if your running one map, or G4 RX if you want mutliple maps.

Pros:
Cooler combustion temps (reduced change of det)
Higher Octane (Can run higher boost)
Cleaner burning (Emissions and carbon buildup)
Smells great :2eek

Cons
Fuel system needs changing (can be expensive)
Not many road side Ethanol suppliers (unless you run a dual map ecu)
You require above 30% more fuel to get the equivilant afr, so it\'s not as cheap as it first looks.

Im all up for seeing cars running on alternative fuel, if I had the money and knowledge I would still be pursuing it with my car.

Good luck

[Ricco_04]

So if you usually get 260 miles to a tank on petrol and you fit the same size 76ltr  tank then your range will be reduced to aprox 180miles.  Which doesnt sound too bad but how many garages supply the stuff that would be en route.

[HaywardRotary]

The real problem with E85 is that the garages that were supplying it were Morrisons supermarket stations and initially it wasn\'t all of them, and now they have stopped it altogether.The reason cited by Morrisons was that the Government was planning to hike the fuel duty on it and make it pointless so they pulled out.
So the thought has become irrelevant.